Vilnius tells Minsk no nuclear incident occurred at Ignalina N-plant in early April

Lithuanian experts have informed Belarus that the latest event at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is being decommissioned, was not a nuclear incident and posed no health or environmental risks, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.

An expert from the Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) informed Belarus' ambassador Alexander Korol on Wednesday that a part of an assembly broke loose from the lifting mechanism and remained on the bottom of the hot cell while spent nuclear fuel was being processed at the plant's second reactor block on Apr. 1.

According to the expert, an examination of the assembly revealed no external damage. Nobody was injured during the event and the background radiation level remained unchanged.